of the soules of the parents or of his own essence they being neither bodies nor Angels but the latter is impossible and therefore it must needs be the former Againe the Prophet saith not without him as if it were first made and then infused but within him So that in saying the Lord formeth the spirit of man within him he doth evidently declare 1. Of matter that there is some matter within man whereof the Lord formeth the soule than which what in so few words can so fitly and fully expresse the manner of the soules propagation being formed in conception of the spirituall matter of the parents soules by the power and vertue of the seede in generation And yet not meerely by the power of nature for in the last place it is to be observed that he saith the Lord formeth it For he indeed is the externall efficient the nature of the soule being of that height that without an immediate act of his providence it cannot be produced Whence it is that in the production of the soule though it be not a creation it is as neere to a creation as can be and though it be by propagation yet it is not meerly by propagation but some way above it and so it is in a manner a kinde of meane betweene creation and propagation For according to these words of the Prophet the soule is formed of the spirituall matter of the parents soules within the conceived fruit not without the omnipotent power of God So that by all these testimonies it appeareth I thinke sufficiently that this doctrine went currant in the time of Adam Abraham Moses David and the Prophets and I beleeve never was once questioned in those first ages of the world CHAP. XIV Testimonies out of the new Testament proving the soules propagation THis doctrine is no lesse if not much more clearely revealed and fully confirmed in the new Testament also 1. S. Paul For first the Apostle Saint Paul saith as plainly as can be that all men in their whole persons both were in Adam and sinned in him Death saith he passed by one man upon all men in whom all sinned Where he maketh no such division of soule and body one from one place and another from another as men have now invented but he saith plainly the whole man Rom. 5.12 yea all men who consist of soules I am sure as well as bodyes were in Adam yea and sinned in him too which is absurd to say and impossible to be without soules What would we yea what can we have more plainly spoken Is it not then high presumption to say no worse of it for men thus to sever what God hath joyned together without apparent warrant from his word how much more then in this for which it is confessed there is no warrant there at all And yet least any man should be mistaken as thinking the whole man may well enough be said to be in Adam though not in other of our parents by I know not what imaginary imputation because he was the stocke of all mankinde or rather of the bodyes of all mankinde the holy Ghost I say foreseeing our aptnesse to erre to take away all exception saith the very same concerning other Fathers also The Author to the Heb. Heb. 7.1 as that Levi together with all his sonnes was yet in the loynes of his Father grandfather yea and great grand-father Abraham when Melchisedeck men him and which is more paid tithes in him So that by the testimony of the Apostle Vâ—rs â— Abrakam is to be reckoned in the number of those that did propagate the whole man soule and body together and for that cause paid tithes for his posteritie while they were yet in his loynes And if Isaaâ— Jacob and the whole tribe of Levi were once in the loynes of Abraham we need not doubt but we were all in like manner once wholly in Adam and consequently are now wholly propagated from him 2. The Angell Gabrell Againe that we may not deny it unlesse we will deny Christ and our owne salvation The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ as concerning his humanitie was the sonne of the virgin Mary and so of David his Father for so said the Angell Gabrell being sent unto her Luk 1.31 32. Thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and againe the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David Neither is it sufficient to say his body came from them for the Apostle plainly affirmeth Rom. 1.3 that he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh Where flesh is figuratively put for his whole humanity both soule and body as themselves confesse Per syâ—ocdochâ—n Neither can it be denyed for it is there opposed to his Divinitie as the words immediately following doe manifestly declare and all Interpreters acknowledge Whence it necessarily followeth that the soul of our Saviour was the seede of David even the fruit of his loynes as well as his body 3. S. Peter Act. 2.30 as St. Peter witnesseth for since the holy Ghost affirmeth it why should we feare to do it yea why should we not feare to doe otherwise Is it not safer to follow such a guide than to run a way by our selves for which we have no warrant And seeing as the Apostle elsewhere affirmeth Heb. 4.15 He was made like unto us in all things except sinne why should wee make any doubt but it is so with us also as it was with him Especially considering the whole currant and full streame of the Scriptures run this way even from the beginning And not onely concerning him as where it is said Gen. 3.15 22.18 the Seede of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Gen. 5.10.11 as we heard before but also all other places speaking of his or our generation comprehends both soule and body under the name of seede 1 Chron. 1 2 3 c. Mat. 1. Luk. 2. Mat. 19.6 without any exception making the soule no lesse the seede of man than the body and the body no more than the soule and neither of them more or lesse propagation than the other and this throughout the whole Scripture without any the least word to the contrary And therefore I say againe let no man dare to seperate what God hath so joyned together 4. Our Saviour himselfe Lastly Unlesse we will make God the Author of sin and consequently deny God that made us we must confesse the truth of this doctrine proved from those words of our Saviour where speaking both of the naturall and the new birth of man he saith Ioh. 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit Whence I reason thus If the soule were immediately created by God it should not be flesh that is corrupt and
that can be and it must needs be and is granted by all that for a good soule to be thus united and set into such a condition is a punishment of Adams sin Now since Gods justice very nature proclaimes that the innocent child shall not be punished for the fathers offence how can a good soule be punished in so high a degree for the sin of another who was not the father of it no nor of the same kinde for Adam was not a soule but a man without injustice yea cruelty in God how justly might such a poore soule complaine of God in this case to be so farre from mercy as to be unjust and how justly may the unjust Anabaptists cry out of us as they doe that we make God the Author of sin The Lord hath taughtus in his word that he abhorres such courses for my part therefore I am so farre from beleeving this doctrine that I quake to thinke of it CHAP. XVIII That a soule newly created by God cannot be infected with Originall sinne 2. Not justly corrupted AS the soule cannot be justly united so being united it cannot be justly corrupted if it be immediately created For whence should the corruption come it must be either from the body or the soule or the union of both but it can be from none of these It is manifest it cannot be from the body for that alone cannot be corrupt and if it could it cannot corrupt the soule and if it could corrupt the soule yet not with originall sin 1. Not by â—he body That the body alone cannot be corrupt and sinfull may easily appeare by many reasons 1. It cannot be corrupt First even the thing it selfe declares that the simple substance of the body is no more capable of vertue or vice than a stone for sin can be onely in a subject that hath power to understand will and move of it selfe which the body of it selfe cannot doe but onely by reason of the reasonable soule So that the body cannot make the soule but it is the soule that makes the body sinfull Rom. 6.13 and so the Apostle also implyeth that our members are the soules instruments of sinne Although therefore the body may be cholericke melancholy c. all the world know that elementary qualities humors and affections are not of themselves sinfull but naturally good and so rather dispose to good than to evill Againe The body hath nothing in it of spirituall nature but onely that which is bodily and therefore cannot have sin which is of spirituall nature it being a spirituall evill even as obedience to God is a spirituall good Moreover if neither plants having life nor bruites having both life sense cannot be said to be sinfull because they want reason much lesse can the body the senslesse and livelesse body of man be infected with sin without the soule Lastly That which the body hath not first with that it cannot infect the soule in being united with it but the body hath not first in it ignorance unbeliefe c. in which the soules tainture originally consisteth and therefore cannot infect the soule thereby in being united with it and consequently not with originall sin neither 2. It cannot corrupt the soule But let it be granted contrary to all reason and truth that the body is first infected with originall sin can the body fasten the same upon the soule Nothing lesse And not onely because it is a spirit and bodies can work onely corporally according to their natures so as the impuritie of the body can neither affect nor infect the purest spirituall soule but also because the soule is the first mover and commander of all actions in the body Now if mens soules be created sound and sincere free from the contagion of sin every way absolute as were the soules of our first parents and so joyned unto their bodies why doe they not by vertue of that divine nature restore the ruine of that building which was defiled by the sin of Adam why doe they not clense and cleanse and purge the blots and filth of the body seeing they doe sit as Judges in the body and rule and guide it according to their owne pleasure If it be said that sin sometimes Obj. begins in the body as Davids eye when he saw Bathsheba bathing of her selfe it is easily answered For Ans 1. first the eye as a bodily part seeth not but the soule by the eye Oculus non videt sed anima per oculum Secondly His sin was not at all in seeing her but in lusting after her in his heart soule which lust conceiving I am 1.14 by consent brought forth death in act and therefore in his confession he ascends by this streame to the originall fountaine Psal 51.5 namely that originall sin wherein he was conceived Wherefore if the soule be created good and so infused into the body there is more reason that it should sanctifie the body than that the body should corrupt it and according to this doctrine it may much better be maintained that all men have originall righteousnesse because the soule comes from God than that we have originall sin because the body comes from Adam 3. It cannot corrupt it with originall sin But let this also be granted that the soule is corrupted by yeelding obedience to the body as Adam did to Eve yet we cannot have originall sin ever the more for this for the souls yeelding obedience to the body and following the sinfull motions thereof if any such there be is actuall sin and not that originall corruption wherewith the whole man is infected by descending from the loynes of Adam in whom as the Apostle saith We all sinned Rom. 5.12 and which onely was before proved to be originall sinne Not actually to commit something against the will of God is originall sin but that in-bred home-bred breathing of sin which is the spawne of all sin which if it be seated in the body how it can corrupt that new created pure soule without any provocation or inticement to sin cannot possibly be imagined Againe if Originall sin most properly consisteth in ignorance of minde aversenesse of will and perversenesse of affections none of which can be immediately in the body how can it give these things to the soule and that originall sin consists mainly in these besides the testimony of Scripture and all orthodox Writers it is manifest in reason for that from which actuall sin commeth in that doth originall sin consist now all actuall sin springs from ignorance unbeliefe c. and therefore therein especially originall sin must needs consist To conclude seeing the body alone cannot possibly have originall sin nor give that which it hath not Originall sin cannot possibly come by the body 2. Not by the soule Neither can it proceed from the soule if it be created good but it will be said it may for in the instant
like Purgatory was invented they be purged from this corporall contagion then they shall returne againe to heaveÌ„ from whence they came For thus doth Sathan seeke to obscure the truth with lies when he cannot put out all light of nature Not much unlike this and as it is like derived from it was the opinion of Origen 9. Origen who though he thought as the Scriptures teach that God created the soule of nothing and not of any caelestiall substance yet he saith that all soules were created together at the beginning of the world as Angels were and because they sinned in departing from God they are since put into divers bodies to be as it were their Jayles and fetters to imprison clog them more or lesse according to the diversitie of their sinnes And that for this cause the world was made that so these evill spirits might be bridled No lesse 10. â—â—thagoâ—â—â—â—s if not much more strange was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transmigration of soules which the Pythagoreans imagined viz. that they passed at death out of one mans body into another yea into fowles fishes plants without any difference exercising their power in them so far as in those natures could be manifested and that accordingly as they had lived in one body more or lesse vitiously so they were received at death into a worse or better body And it seemes the Jewes themselves were somewhat infected with this opinion by the Romans for they thought that Christ was John Baptist risen againe Mat. 14.2 16.13 14. or Eliah or Jarâ—â—â—ah Mar. 6.14 or some other of the old Prophets Luk. 9.7 8 11. Certaine Platonists or Pythagoreans Yea there have not beene wanting some heretickes of old who following the opinion of the Platonists have affirmed the soule to be of such a nature as it can never be quiet untill such time as it hath finished all manner of works whatsoever can be done in the world of what nature soever whether good or bad by passing out of one body into another through all sorts of creatures And untill then say they it can never be throughly purged or be at rest 12. Certaine Tertullianists Yet more some have maintained that at death those soules that live well are turned into Angels and those that have lived wickedly become devills as the Tertullianists c. And hence it is that we reade of conjurers who have killed men and children that they might have their soules as their imps and familiar spirits to command after their deaths and such an one it is said Simon Magus was 13. Every man 3 soules Neither is there more diversitie about the nature than the number of soules for some are of opinion that every man hath three soules a vegetative soule with plants a sensitive soule with beasts and a reasonable soule like unto the Angels although indeed they are but three faculties or sundry operations of one and the same soule in us 14. 2 Soules Other againe thinke there can be no lesse than two soules at the least one sensuall the other rationall the one mortall the other immortall the one propagated by the Parents and the other created by God And this Occam would prove from the diversity and contrariety of appetites and desires in one and the same man which he thinks cannot be in one and the same individuall nature 15. Maniches Some others yet more grossely have affirmed that every man hath indeed two soules the one made of the substance of God and the other of the substance of the devils These were the Maniches who held two beginnings a good God and an evill God 16. Averrois Contrary to these and yet no lesse unreasonable is the opinion of that great Philosopher Averrois that there is one onely soule of all men that ever were or shall be in the world Diversities of opinioÌ„s amongst Christians But leaving these Heathens and heretickes with their heathenish and hereticall conceits as not worthy the confuting let us heare the verdict of the learned Christians since Christ who all with one coÌ„sent affirme that the soules of men are either immediately created by God 1. Creation or else mediately propagated by man 2. Propagation yet herein also there is no small diversitie for in either of these there are two opinions each differing from other 17. Created out of the body Of those that maintaine the soule to be immediately created by God some think it is created without the body of nothing and then infused into it by God after the forming of the body of this mind was Hillary c. 18. Created within the body Others againe thinke it to be created within the body of the conceived fruit which hath first vegetative life then sensitive and lastly the reasonable soule is created therein and united therewith by the immediate power of God onely Both these have been countenanced by many of the best learned especially the latter which is most commonly received as the truth at this day 19. Propagated corporally Notwithstanding others contend that although God at first created Adams soule of nothing yet ever since they have beene naturally propagated from the parents together with the body so that as wee have our bodies from Adams body so our soule from Adams soule but so as it is immortall notwithstanding But of these some conceiting it to be a corporeall substance thought also that it was generated after a corporall manner which was worthily condemned by Austin and others 20. Propagated spiritually But those that held it to be a spirituall substance held also that it was propagated spiritually the soule of the soule as it were light of light And this heretofore was upholden by many of the most learned men amongst the Antients yea as St. Hierome witnesseth most of the Doctors of the Westerne Churches were of that minde So that it seemeth this opinion was as commonly received among them there as the other now amongst us Lastly 21. there were some that wavered between these two opinions not knowing which to take and of this minde was St. Augustine and Eucherius August Epist 157. who durst neither condemne those that thought it was spiritually propagated from the Parents nor yet those that held it to be immediately created by God Lib. 2. Cap. 56. The one professing in one of his Epistles that he could not finde any certainty of the soules Originall throughout the Canonicall Scriptures in which doubt he also continued to his death as appeareth plainly in his Retractations CHAP. IV. The state of the question propounded with the chiefe difficulties on both sides The censure and choise HEreby it appeareth sufficiently both how much difficultie is in this question of the soules originall and how imperfect our knowledge is therein But since all the rest are most absurd erronious and some blasphemous and two onely as most probable claime
man generates the whole man after a manner convenient to either nature 1. The soule supernaturall The first objection is that the soule is supernaturall and nature cannot produce any thing above nature But first it cannot be properly said that the soule is supernaturall It is indeed above elementary natures and therefore I also deny that it can be propagated of or by the body alone Againe I say not that the whole man can beget his like according to that common manner whereby other creatures are generated but by the supernaturall power of GOD assisting him And so though it were supernaturall yet it is not against nature that it should be propagated seeing as it is supernaturall so it is supernaturally propagated 2. Spirits cannot propagate Secondly It is objected that the soule is a simple spirit like unto Angels and therefore as one Angell cannot beget another so neither can soules First I answer 1. that we might with as good reason reason thus soules are like unto Angels and Angels cannot be united with bodies therefore soules cannot 2. Homo generat nec materiam nec formam sed totū compositum Secondly I doe not say that one soule doth beget another but one man another For generation is not of matter or forme onely but of the whole compound consisting of matter and forme Thirdly though soules are of a simple spirituall substance as are Angels in respect of elementary yet even Angels themselves and much more mens soules are not without a spirituall kinde of composition For to be simply simple is proper onely to the nature of God Fourthly Mens soules are of a farre more inferiour nature and so are more compounded than the nature of Angels and very fit it was that they should be so that they might be the more sutable to corporall natures with whom it pleased the Creator to unite them Lastly We see it is the will of God that soules should be produced with bodyes one after another in a naturall order to the worlds end and therefore hath conferred his efficient power for the effecting thereof from the beginning none of all which can be affirmed of Angels And now let reasō or any reasonable man judge whether it will follow that because one Angell neither doth nor can beget another therfore man cannot beget man yea God cannot by man produce one soule out of another though after a metaphysicall manner as for the reasons aforesaid we cannot throughly conceive 3. The soule is immateriall Of the same kinde is that objection that the soule is immateriall and the reason stands thus Whatsoever is made must be either of nothing or of some matter pre-existing now the soule is without matter and therfore cannot be propagated but must needs be immediately created of nothing But I deny the soule is altogether immateriall for although it hath no elementary matter yet it hath spirituall matter For all created spirits being compounded of act and potency have a kinde of similitude with corporall natures both in regard of matter and forme yea even Angels themselves But by a kinde of transcendency their matter is as our forme and their forme as the forme of our forme which because we want fitter words may indifferently be called spirituall matter and forme which doe best of all agree with the inferior nature of the soule And if it be said The spirituall matter of the soule it can have no such spirituall all matter because then it must be of such a nature as may receive contrary formes as we see in the generation of all other creatures by reason whereof the soule shall be made corruptible I answer first that though it be so in elementary generations yet it followeth not in spirituall compositions seeing their matter is of an higher kind Secondly Though nature cannot produce one soule put of another but by a corruptible course yet it followeth not but the God of nature may Thirdly as the soule to speake properly consists rather of power than any parts so the propagation is rather by promotion then than any decision Fourthly as the soule hath its essence more in the power and faculty than in the matter of it so more is to be ascribed to the efficient than to the materiall cause more to God than to man and yet that according to the course of nature too Lastly as man is the perfection of the creatures so his is the perfection of generation It is no strange thing therefore but very fitting that there should be somewhat in it transcending the common course as namely that one immortall nature should be derived from another by such a kind of generatiō as is very neere a creation by vertue of that first ordination and continual assistance of the father of spirits on whom the soule hath so neere a dependence 4. The soule corruptible Againe it is objected that the soule is incorruptible and it is a rule in nature Generatio unius est corruptio alterius the generation of one is the corruption of another Now if in every generation there must be a corruption seeing the soule cannot be corrupted it cannot be generated neither But first if this corruption should be graunted in the generation of the soule it is onely in termino a quo which cannot hinder the immortalitie of the soule that is propagated neither doth it belong to the soule that doth propagate for the generaration is of the soule generated not of the soule generating Againe what manner of corruption is that which is here meant A perishing indeed but such an one is rather a perfecting For in generation the seed is not corrupted by putrefaction but by perfection that is it ceaseth to be that which before it was and is made that which it was not because the potentiall being is turned into actuall being seed into a creature so that the thing is the same that it was before though not after the same manner that before it was and thus I graunt there is a corruption in the soules generation namely it ceaseth to be in power onely when it is in act and why then there is not something in man that is not the soule but rather the seminary of the soule as the seede is of the body wee shall heare afterwards 5. It can subsist by it selfe Another argument is taken from the power that the soule hath to subsist by it selfe without the body after this manner if the soule cannot be produced without the body then can it not live without the body and if the bodies generation be the cause of producing it the bodies corruption must also cause the death of it but the soule can live without the body and cannot be corrupted by it and therefore is not generated neither with nor by the body These things thus hudled up together are partly true and partly false for first there is not nor ever was there a soul produced without a body that
opinion of Origen was justly hissed out long agoe So that though no soule is produced by the body yet no soule is produced without it Secondly it is not to be thought that any soule is produced by the body otherwise then by an assisting cause or causa sine qua non whether wee consider the body generating or generated but this I say that the soule is not brought forth without the seede of the parents and yet not by that as it is corporall onely but as there is soule-seede or rather spirituall power in it And thus the soule shall be no lesse able to subsist by it selfe although it be not propagated without the body then a childe shall not be able to live after the death of his parents by whom it was brought forth into the world and as it is not generated so neither can it be corrupted by the body Lastly it cannot be said properly that the soule doth subsist by it selfe alone so long as it is united to the body for according to the course of nature it cannot doe so but after the death of the body for as much as it is not made of mortall seede nor produced meerely by the power of nature and therefore cannot die it cannot doe otherwise but must but must of necessitie subsist by it selfe alone without the body 6. It cannot be hurt by the body Of the same kinde is that objection that as the body cannot corrupt or hurt the soule so much lesse can the soule be propagated by the body For if it be absurd to say the soule is infected with sin by the body because that which is corporeall cannot worke upon that which is incorporeall much more absurd is it that the soule should be generated by the body But this also falleth beside without hurting for though the soule cannot be generated of or by the body which I also confidently affirme yet this is no impediment why it cannot be produced out of the soule by the efficient power of God to which the Body also may be an instrumentall cause in this as well as it is in all other ordinary actions of the soule 7. It worketh in-organically Lastly it is objected that seeing the proper actions of the soule as to understand and will are performed without any help of the body so also is the originall being of it for such as the operation of any thing is such is the essence and contrarily as Philosophy teacheth But first it may be doubted whether any action of the soule be performed without any helpe at all from the body so long as the union lasteth Secondly for as much as the soule ordinarily doth neither understand nor will without the assistance of the animall spirits it followes according to the former rule that by the course of nature neither is the originall without some operation of the body And whereas it is said the mind it selfe must be free from all matters that it may be the better able to discerne the same as the eye judgeth of colours this may proceed not so much from the vacuity of matter as the equall respect it hath to all matter For being the perfection of this mundane frame it hath the Idea of all natures in it as the eye doth represent all colours But as the agent is more noble than the patient though proportioned to it so is the soule above all matter and yet agreeing with it Answerable whereunto the originall according to the former rule must needs be more transcendent than the coÌ„mon course of generation Lastly all those arguments are more forcible to prove that the soule cannot be united with the body and being manifestly false in that they have small probabilitie of truth in this CHAPTER IX Whether the losse of seed be the losse of soules Objection from propagation it selfe BUt the most forcible arguments and which are indeed accounted impossible to be overcome are those which are taken from the course of nature in propagation it selfe whether we consider the matter or manner of it the matter conceived or the manner of conception As first because many soules must be lost because much seede is Secondly because the soule must come from two soules Thirdly the parents must loose part of their soules Lastly touching the manner of conception if may well be questioned how this doctrine can stand with the time of conception In one the same wombe the imperfect beginning and the varietie of conceptions in the same wombe All which seeme to take away all power from man for having any part in the propagation of the soule and these being the chiefe difficulties if they may be well cleared I doubt not but this doctrine will easily be received 1. Obj. About the losse of soules First therefore to begin with the first which concernes the losse of seede which although it may seeme difficult at the first yet I trust may receive a reasonable answer for the adversaries of this doctrine doe thus reason against it If the soule be propagated by the seede what shall become of so much seede as is lost either in sleepe or by such dishonest means Gen. 38.9 as Er and Oâ—an practised or which being received into the wombe never commeth to conception What say they shall so many soules be lost or shall they be choaked in the wombe or shall they remaine alone without bodyes seeing it is certaine they are not to be accounted amongst the number of men In a word because it cannot be denyed but much seede passeth from man which never commeth to perfection no not to conception hence they conclude that if the soule passeth in the seede then many soules perish and so the soule shall not be immortall How the soule is in the seede yet not lost with it But these conceive not rightly yea too basely and bruitishly of the soules generation imagining that which no man sound in his wits will goe about to maintaine For by that which hath been said it appeareth that the soule never passeth in the seede but at the instant of conception and from thenceforth a new soule remaineth in the conceived fruit Neither can it be properly said that it passeth then for as the soule is in the body and yet not conteined of it so it is alwayes in the seede though not comprehended by it and whensoever the seede proves not effectuall the soule remaines as it was what ever becomes of the seede for the soule is never procreated but in conception when both seedes meete in a due proportion and become one and when the efficient power of God concurring with all other naturall causes doe out of the substance of the generating soules produce another together with a body capable of that divine forme Some resemblance whereof wee may see in the lighting of a Lamp or Candle Simile for as fire is the most spirituall of all corporall substances so by it wee may have the clearest
are sinfull from him onely as wee are from him Wherefore as if the whole man was not potentially in Adam the whole man did not sin in him so if the whole man did not proceed from him the whole man cannot have originall sin from him For it is impossible wee should be in him and sin in him in that respect wherein we neither were in him nor could sin in him that i◠without the whole man and therefore if the whole man neither was nor could be in him nor from him the whole man neither have nor can have fin in him or from him So that if we say we were in him in our bodyes onely then they onely and not wee sinned in him yea even they did not sin in him for bodyes simply considered cannot sin as wee heard before and therefore to say wee sinned in our bodyes onely is as much as to say we did not sin at all Besides The whol man is the subject of sin it is manifest that neither the body nor the soule alone is the subject of sin but the person or whole man For if according to the rule of reason that be the proper subject to which the accident properly cleaveth then either the whole man is the subject of sin or else the whole man is not properly sinfull Obj. And why else is the law given to the whole man and the whole man rewarded or punished Ans according to his vertuous or vitious manner of living If any object Obj. 2. that the soule cannot be punished alone after death Ans 2. I answer Neither is it simply as a soule but as the soule of a wicked man If they reply that so our soules sinned in Adam not as our soules but as the soules of-men I answer nay they must answer themselves that according to their doctrine the soule never was before and so had no being in nature no not potentially much lesse was it the soule of a man and least of all could it sin in Adam 5. Scriptures Seeing therefore I could not sin in Adam but as I was in him I sinned in him in my whole person consisting of soule and body and that not by I wot not what imaginary imputation but really and truly as I was potentially in him by the law of nature it necessarily followeth that I was naturally and really in him in my whole person both soule and body and so have proceeded from him And hereto serve the former Scriptures in him all men sinned and Rom. 5.12 1 Cor. 15.22 in Adam all dye speaking of the whole person and therefore so must wee For what is mortall man that he should contradict the holy Ghost or seeke a new way when God hath chalked out the old Wherefore I conclude that as none can partake of Christs righteousnesse unlesse the whole man be regenerated and borne againe by and from his grace Ioh. 3.3 so none can partake of Adams sin unlesse the whole person be generated by and from his nature CHAP. XXI That the whole man cannot be propagated unlesse the soule be 1. The whol cannot be without the essentiall parts IN the last place it remaines to prove that if the whole man doe the soule also must needs come from Adam for this must also be proved be it never so manifest because some seeing the former grounds unanswerable would make us beleeve that the whole man may be said to be in Adam though the soule comes from God I deny not but it may be said but I cannot see how it can be said truely For what can be more false and absurd than to say the whole was in Adam but not the essentiall parts whereof the whole consisteth And indeed such a manner of being must be an idle imagination or nothing for it is impossible to be either really or rationally But what is their reason man gives the subsistence to the person and the soule comes from Adam quoad existentiam though not quoad essentiam But I deny this too man does indeed something in the subsistence of the person but that as they say is onely to provide I know not what a body it should be without a form which at the most is but the least part and therfore not the whole nor halfe 2. The conjunction if it put them in one case cannot yet bring them from one place But they say man conjoynes both natures together whereby it doth subsist by it selfe as a person But neither is this true for the conjunction is they say no body knows how long after cōception and therefore not man but the woman must doe it alone And yet hot shee neither for they say God doth create it in the infusion and infuse it in the creating But say that God gave the soule to the parents and they did unite them would it follow that the conjunction of both makes both to come from Adam Why doe they not rather come both from God and not at all from Adam it were more reason the greater should draw the lesser than the lesse the greater that the baser should attend the more noble rather than the most noble to waite on the baser verily if the whole man may be properly said to proceed from Adam because the body doth much more may the whole man be said to proceed from God because the soule doth The vanitie of this reason that the whole man comes from Adam because the body doth may appeare by the like If a lame man should have a woodden leg joyned to his body Simile might it be said his whole body grew in the wood because his leg did nothing lesse And yet is not the woodden leg so much inferiour to the body as the body is to the soule Any childe therefore may take away these stilts from such a lame reason as this is 3. It could not be in Adams time nor ours And if any will still urge it in good earnest let him tell me when the whole man was in Adam since the former Scriptures say plainly it was it must needs be in Adams time or ours yea in both but according to this doctrine it could be in neither so not at all It could not be in Adams time for the whole man had not being in nature nor not potentially in respect of the soule many hundred yeares after neither could it be in our time for Adam was dead likewise many thousand yeares before we had any being especially in respect of the better part of the soule and so consequently never was contrary to those Scriptures and the doctrine of originall sin It must needs be therefore that the whole man as well soule body forme as matter even the whole compound was potentially in Adam as the whole tree in the roote or seede many graines of wheat in one and so being naturally propagated from him doth partake of his nature both in soule and body Else marke
what absurdities will farther follow Absurdities That wee were in Adam in that wherein we were not 1. 2. we sinned without that without which wee could not sin 3. the whole man was in Adam and yet never came from him 4. and we left that in Adam which we never had in him viz. our soules 5. Then also Adam shall be still full of soules which yet he never had 6. and that I may not be endlesse in that which is needles who can abide a speech so contrary to it selfe the whole was in Adam but not that which is the whole All which are rather wholly to be laughed at than confuted in any part CHAP. XXII That the whole humanity of Christ was taken from the Virgin The use and order of handling this questiōn HAving thus shewed out of the Scriptures the necessity of the souls propagation by reason of originall sin I proceede now to prove it from the incarnation of Christ which yet is accounted the maine let why it cannot be propagated for because the Scripture saith He is like unto us in all things Heb 4.15 sin onely excepted and it is taken for granted that his soule was created of nothing this is used not onely as one of the chiefe weapons to maintaine the creation of ours but also as a shield to defend them from the force of many other Arguments which cannot otherwise possibly be avoided It is very necessary therfore fully to cleare this point and to shew both that it was mediately though extraordinarily produced from Adam as well as ours and how so it could be free from sin No Scripture for it That the soule of our Saviour was not immediately created of nothing may appeare first because it is more than is in the Scripture 1. The holy Ghost in the description of Christs incarnation saith nothing of any such thing no notwithstanding it is thought to be such a notable yea such a necessary way to cleare him from sin 2. And who dare say or think the holy Ghost should omit one of the most principal things in the mightiest matter that ever was revealed to men or Angels yea how contrary to all reasō is it 3. that when the foure Evangelists were so carefull to set forth every materiall circumstance touching his birth life death c. so as that which is wanting in one is supplied by another yet in this alone which is the chiefe of all they should all forget to mention it if there had been any such matter And why then should we thrust in our conceits of such things as never were heard of in the Scriptures For from the beginning of the world since Adam it was never heard that a soule was created of nothing and shall wee then father our imaginations upon the Scripture yea why or how dare man speake where the holy Ghost is silent know Deut. 14.2 that cursed is he that addeth ought to the word of God Scriptures against it But not onely doe the Scriptures not speake it but they plainly affirme the contrary as where it saith Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed 22.18 Where by seede is meant the whole nature of man which Christ tooke and how can it be denied then but his soule as well as his body was their seede Againe Christ was made of the seede of David according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 that is his whole humanity for it is there opposed to his divinitie As also where it is said God raised up Christ Act. 2.30 of the fruit of his loynes according to the flesh And how else can he be in all things except sin like unto us who as is abundantly proved before are mediately traduced from Adam both soule and body 3. Then Adams sin must be imputed to him Againe If his and all soules be immediately created by God then the imputation of Adams sin to all men must lay hold on Christ as man Neither is it sufficient to say that he is more than a man for if Adams sin be imputed unto all men eo nomine even because they are men it cannot be avoided but it must light upon him also so far forth as he is man And thus they must needs fall into that which they so much feare the making of Christs humane nature sinfull so slippery is it to walke out of the right way though never so warily 4. His soule and body conceived together This appeareth also in that his soule and body were conceived together both at once and not after the perfecting of the vegetative and sensitive soules as they say it is with us For this is generally confessed because the divine nature is immediately united to the soule and by the soule to the body so that unlesse we should say that his body did subsist by it selfe out of the divine nature before it was assumed or else that the divine nature was united with a brute body or unformed un-informed Embrio which no man I beleeve is so brutish to affirme it must of necessitie be granted so forcible is the truth that however it is with us his soule and body was conceived together Which being so it followeth by the same reason that if he be like unto us and we like unto him in all things except sin our soules and bodyes also conceived together as his was And if it be graunted that all souls are present at the first conception there will be small reason to thinke they come by immediate creation 5. His miraculous cōception Besides it is manifest from the manner of his conception for if his soule had come immediately from God he might have beene begotten after the common manner of men without sin but this could not be and therefore the former is not The connexion of the proposition is manifest for if his and all soules doe come immediately from God Originall sin cannot possibly come by propagation but either because God bereaves it of supernaturall gifts whereby it becomes evill or by the union with the body at the instant whereof it is guilty of Adams sin because the soule of man But seeing Christs soule so soone as it was was together with the body one person with the eternall word he must needs be exempted from the common condition of men and so even by their doctrine neither could be bereaved of those gifts nor guilty of Adams sin being more than a man Neither can it be said Generation not evill that there is evill in the act of generation for that is naturally good 1. and the soule they say is not then present 2. and the body alone is not capable of sin no though the soule were present if as they say man propagate the body onely Wherefore if his soule had been immediatly created by God
perfection as could not be subjected thereunto and so God should faile in his workmanship and be constrained to helpe himselfe and worke perpetually in creating soules notwithstanding his creating all Angels together which could not be propagated and instituting naturall meanes for the rest that so he might rest and yet cannot 7. Like begets like Yea doe not the contrary directly follow and not onely from the common rule in nature like begets like and therefore man man but also because if man be the most excellent of the creatures having all or at least the most excellent faculties in an higher perfection than they he should so much the rather be more able to propagate his like than they yea shall any beast bring forth another which shall be able to persist of it selfe and bring forth more and shall the God of all creatures make mans nature so lame and imperfect that he and he onely cannot goe alone as well as they unlesse God leade him If this be true God shall be the most step-father to man and man the worst creeple of all Gods creatures 8. Everyman two fathers or none Furthermore As men can have no children this way so children can have no fathers or else every one two fathers For if the soule comes from God who is a mans father the whole mans I meane not Adam for he is the father of our bodies onely nor God for our soules only come from him If then neither God nor Adam be our father whose sonnes I beseech you are wee By this doctrine he is a wise childe that knowes his owne father Perhaps it will be said wee are the sonnes of both But then every one must have two fathers an infinite and a finite father Oh strange absurditie and no lesse ridiculous than impossible for how can both be when by the lawes of nature neither can To be short either they must make GOD and Adam both one or else every childe must have two fathers or none at all 9. Children like their parents Neither is it without force that children are ordinarily like their parents and not onely in the features of the body but in the faculties of the minde also Now though all soules be essentially alike and this is not alwayes true neither in soule nor body for divers reasons yet since it is true in both for the most part it appeareth that the parents have more in generation than the body yea so much as the whole man is ordinarily like the parents so much is the whole man propagated from him CHAP. XXVII Reasons from the nature of the soule Everyman must have two souls NEither is this kinde of propagation more agreeable to the ordinary course of generation than to the nature of the soule it selfe nor that of the immediate creation more contrary to the one than the other For first as by that doctrine every one must have two fathers or none so also two soules for if the rationall soule be infused by God after the perfecting of the vegetative and sensitive soules as they are called though in truth both be performed by one soule as wee see in beasts I would know what soule it was that did informe and shape the fruite before giving it vegetation and sense These things cannot possibly be done without of soule which if it were not the rationall was some other unreasonable soule such as is in beasts and so every man must have two soule For wee see by experience the former did not perish at the comming of the latter as it is in the forme of corporeall substances when one perish then another succeeds but here both remaine and therefore either must be mingled and made one with the reasonable scule which cannot be unlesse it be corruptible or else every man must have two soules one reasonable and another unreasonable which opinion is verily as farre from reason as the soule is from being unreasonable Againe 2. The soule is an essentiall part of man The soule the chiefe part of man and the very forme of man without which man is not man and therefore it is against nature and contrary to all reason that man by the course of nature propagating a creature like himselfe should not be able to propagate such an essentiall part as the soule is especially seeing it is graunted he can propagate such an accident as sin is Yea how can this doctrine possibly be true that man should propagate that which is unnaturall not that which is naturall an unnaturall accident and not a naturall essentiall part sin which cannot be without the soule and not the soule without which there can be no sin 3 The soule compared with other spirits This also will farther appeare if we compare the nature of the soule with other spirits For it is observed by the learned and manifest even to the ignorant that GOD hath created three sorts of spirits in the world First Angels which are so spirituall that they cannot be joyned with bodyes Secondly The spirits of beasts c. which are so corporall that they cannot be seperated from bodyes Thirdly Mens soules as a mean which can both live without bodyes as after death like Angels and united with bodies as in this life like beasts Againe we see it is the will and ordinance of God that Angels should neither increase nor decrease corporall spirits as I may call them both increase and decrease and that soules should increase and multiply but never decrease or perish Doe not then the order of nature teach then that as Angels ate immediatly created by God onely and the spirits of beasts altogether mediately propagated so the soules of men which are the meane betwixt both should be produced partly by the immediate power of God and partly mediately by propagation or rather by such a manner of production as is even a meane betweene creation and propagation It were to disturbe the order of nature to confound the nature of the soule and to make a mingle-mangle of the orderly workes of God to deny it 4. The nature of the soule it selfe And this is no lesse apparent if wee consider the nature of the foule alone then compared with others For it is to be considered that the soule is the lowest nature of all incorporeall spirits indued with power to use the bodily organs to those purposes whereunto they were ordained by nature but chiefly by its rationall faculty to get knowledg of all sensible things which senses ar◠〈◊〉 proportioned by God that the reasonable soule by them get all its naturall knowledge Ye◠even but knowledge of God himself◠doth ordinarily arise from sense onely ordered by reason and reason it selfe is a meane betweene the sense of beasts and intelligence of Angels And therefore God hath united the soule with the body it is incompleate without it it naturally desires union with it It cannot ordinarily know any thing but by it and the
conclude this so difficult a doctrine which as in the beginning it seemed so hard that no words could sufficiently explaine it so now me thinkes it is so plaine and easie that I feare nothing more than that I have insisted too long in the proofe of that which I thinke no man can or will deny yet considering that such is the curiositie of some in this age that are wittily acute and such also the difficultie and necessitie of understanding this doctrine aright that a mans life were well bestowed in giving full satisfaction therein this short discourse I hope will not seeme over-long to the judicious 1. The originall of the Soule I conclude therefore as before first that the soule is neither immediately created by God of nothing nor yet meerly propagated by man without his immediate power but that he hath instituted a naturall order whereby the whole man begets the whole man both soule and body and as well the one as the other Not the soule the body nor the body the soule neither the soule the soule alone nor the body the body alone yet in this order the soule the soule onely immediately but mediately by the body and the body the body onely immediately but mediately by the soule And thus in man the whole propagation the whole as concerning matter and forme as well as other creatures albeit in the one the immediate power of GOD concurreth as an efficient cause and naturall meanes onely in the other 2. â—he imâ—â—ortaliâ—â— of the â—â—â—le From this naturall yet divine beginning I also conclude the immortall nature and everlasting continuance of the soule For seeing it is not produced by the power of nature alone nor yet made of any corporall matter but spirituall both for matter manner wherein it excelleth all other creatures though united through Gods institution to the naturall generation it must needs transcend the condition of all corporall creatures as well in the end as in the originall and so can be no lesse than immortall though we goe no higher than the rules of nature 3. Originall sinne Hence also I conclude that all Adams off-spring are infected with that staine of nature which he contracted to himselfe by sin which is propagated from parents to children together with the whole man the subject thereof and that without any fault in God it being our act and not his our sinfull soules proceeding not from him but our sinfull parents and so not being corrupted by him but by our selver in Adam 4. Christs incarnation And lastly hereby also appeareth the puritie of Christs incarnation who though he were true man like unto us and made of the same substance both for soule and body yet was not propagated after the common manner of men to avoide that infection of sin which wee receive in propagation Reasons to beleeve without reason Now if any cannot conceive through the subtle conceit they have of it how the soule should minister any matter to the producing of another which I confesse is hardest yet considering that most of the most learned ancient Fathers and Schoolmen in former times have allowed aêreall bodyes even to the Angels themselves it cannot be thought absurd that I ascribe such a spirituall composition to soules as hath such a neere resemblance unto corporall matter and forme as may well stand both with this manner of propagation and the divine nature of the soule And if thus much be not granted it cannot appeare in nature neither how it can be united with the body the one being in my conceit as hard to conceive as the other But seeing I see the one is I beleeve the other may be And further I adde that that though this did seeme to disagree with reason yet wee ought rather to beleeve it than the other which we plainly see doe disagree with Religion But to conclude seeing wee see the reason why wee cannot see the reason let us not be so vainely curious to enquire of that which we know certainly we cannot certainly know let us content our selves a while not heathenishly to reason but Christianly to beleeve and shortly after this life Phil. 3.15 all these things shall be revealed unto us FINIS A Compendious Table of matters concernable in this TREATISE THE possibilitie of knowing the Souls originall 2 Cautions in searching it 6 What knowledg men have of spirits 14 Soules knowledge of it selfe 15 How the soule knowes inferior natures how superior 17 Angels know not our thoughts 21 How farre may be knowne of the soule 23 Twenty-one opinions of the soules originall 25 A censure of the opinions and the choice made 35 Of Originall sinne 39 How man propagates man 46 Gods act in the soules production what 47 How the soule is propagated of the soule 49 Soule and body be at once propagated 50 Soules double union 52 Causes of immortalitie 55 How man is sinfull and yet immortall 56 Texts of Scripture answered and explained 60 Reasons from the Scripture answered 75 From the creation of Adams soule 75 From the creation of Christs soule 85 Of propagation of spirits 91 How the soule is immateriall 93 Its incorruption 95 Its selfe-subsistence 97 It cannot be hurt by the body 99 It worketh inorganically 100 Whether losse of seede be losse of soules 100 How one soule proceeds from two ibid. Whether parents loose part of their soules 101 Of imperfect conceptions 104 Of the soules seed how generated 111 Spirits may be communicated and not diminished 121 That the soule is perfect in conception 230 Of Eves Creation 144 Testimonies of Scripture to prove the soules propagation what 181 The nature of Originall sinne 186 In it is nothing positive 188 Body cannot corrupt the soule 130 Originall sin it propagable 241 The whole man is received from Adam 158 Christs humanitie taken from the Virgin 259 Christs soule and body conceived together and how 263 How Christ was free from sin 279 Why the truth of propagation of soule hid so long time 284 Naturall reasons to prove propagation 285 Man can father no more than he begets 292 No father without giving the form 293 The faculty of propagation seated in the soule 306 The soules work in the Embrio 308 Rarenesse of conception 312 Of unnaturall copulations 317 Soules infused in adultery 318 Objections removed and cleared 324 Conclusion of all 331 FINIS
not of man Certaine it is there is a truth if we could find it For God will prove himselfe true Rom. 3.4 though every man be a lyar and therefore if any mistake be the fault is in our selves This I hold as one principle Againe looke what God hath spoken in his Word the same he hath wrought in the world he doth not say one thing and doe another but his word his works agree and this I hold as a second principle Lastly I doubt not but in this controversall age God is about to refine the Christian Religion and to reveale secrets that have beene hitherto hidden and seeing many other mysteries are daily cleared why should not this also seeing that God which giveth an heart to undertake can give power to performe let men say thinke what they will I shall not therefore faile through his assistance to doe my best indeavour Curiositie to be avoided Two extreames notwithstanding I confesse are in this matter to be avoided Curiosity and Negligence First Curiositie It is strange how mans nature is affected to noveltie so divine a thing is knowledge that even innocency it selfe was ambitious of it it cost Adam a fall as we know Deut. 29.29 Neverthelesse secret things belong to God and onely things revealed to us and our children Where God hath not a tongue to speake we may not have an eare to heare when he is sparing in revealing we must be sparing in enquiring Gen. 2.17 forbidden fruit may not be tasted and when God hath set us limits Exod. 19.12 we may not passe our bounds least we die Being creatures we must submit our selves to our Creator and if we will be Christians faith must satisfie where reason cannot And good reason there is it should be so both for our humiliation and trial To humble us when we shall see our reason non-plust even in matters of greatest consequence and to try our faith in mounting above reason when it shall appeare that wee rely more upon Gods word then our own fancy Now that the soule is immortall and that all men are stained with originall sinne are things most certaine for the Scripture plainly affirmes them And if the originall of the soule be doubtfull yet even reason teacheth that it is altogether madnesse to reject a certaine truth for uncertaine Justly therefore is their curiosity to be condemned who are wondrous inquisitive to know whence the soule came but care not at all whither it goes Indeed desiring to see cause of doubting in the one that they may have the more libertie to be carelesse in the other Cautions to be observed Yet is not this so to be understood as if we were not to seeke after any thing but that which is manifest in the Scripture for so we shall not need to seeke at all Neither is every question curious which may seem to be so but that indeed is a curious question which is either needlesse or not revealed Nor how needfull this present question about the soules originall is no man doubteth the onely quaere is whither it be revealed or no and indeed many thinke it is not But besides that all things are not revealed at once we must know that God reveales things two wayes either by his word or by his works Now as many things are not to be found in the booke of the creatures are yet manifest in the booke of the Scriptures So many things that are not mentioned in the word are yet manifest in the works of God It is our dutie therefore to search both But divine things are to be sought especially in the former and naturall as this is in the latter yet still comparing both together If therefore this truth can be found in either then it is revealed neither can we say it is a secret untill both be throughly searched And because there is a depth in both past finding out therefore we must exercise our selves in them day and night and never leave searching I meane for things needfull so long as the world endureth and in this cause where God is sparing in revealing it is to make us the more diligent in searching and enquiring For as Curiositie on the one hand so negligence on the other is also to be avoided And not onely in regard of those fundamentall doctrines which doe so neerly depend upon it the overthrowing of which would overturne all Religion but also in regard of the godly themselves both to stay their minds in this wavering age and to cut off those doubts and unbeseeming motions which through Sathans malice and our owne corruption are too apt to arise even in the hearts of Gods best children and lastly to stop the mouths of wicked men and Atheists who are ready upon all occasions to blaspheme GOD and make a mocke of Religion For the shunning of such difficulties as these under a colour of modesty and to avoid curiosity or the like gives them occasion of suspition that there is some secret fraud which we are afraid to discover in all points of controversie therefore so much as is maniâ—â—st in the word I certainly beleeve though reason seemes against it and withall I know that it is not for me to question the doctrine but to blame mine owne ignorance and so set my selfe to search not because I doubt but because I doe beleeve the truth And this we may and must performe as well for our owne satisfaction as the edification of others Neither may the difficulty discourage us but rather whet on our diligence so much the more wherin for our comfort so long as we maintaine that the soule is so produced whither immediately from God or mediately from man that it is of an immortall nature and yet stained with originall sin according to the Scriptures what ever we determine of the manner we are out of danger of heresie though perhaps subject to error Neither yet may the feare of being censured for presumption or curiositie hinder the sober search of it which though it cannot justly for the former reasons yet can hardly be avoided not onely because some lazy persons would gladly free themselves of that labour by calling it curious but also considering the intricate nicenesse of it which is such indeed as may seeme to be handled curiously and yet without curiositie yea curiousnesse it selfe is no curiositie in such a curious though necessary question Wherefore taking Philosophy on the one hand and Divinitie on the other hand to leade me craving the light of Gods Spirit to direct me I will set my selfe unto it resolving so God may be glorified not much to care who is offended CHAP. II. Whether the originall of the Soule may be perfectly knowne in this life BUt before I proceede any further I must preadmonish my Reader not to thinke to attaine perfect knowledge herein in this life nor yet to thinke it strange that he cannot For how doe we thinke it is possible
abated their courage and broken their force 1 â— horâ—◠〈…〉 by setting them in the first encounter to fight one against another but also because by the advantage of the place the forces of both fall besides me for neither doe I hold that it is not at all from God nor altogether from man Testimonies of Scripture And first to answer those testimonies of Scripture which are brought to prove the immediate creation of the soule that generall answer of that divine Father Saint Augustine may serve for all i. e. that the divine testimonies only teach that God is the giver and former of our soules but they doe not declare how or by what meanes God sendeth them into us So that by his judgement they straine the Scripture too farre who indeavour to prove this immediate manner of the soules creation from them and indeed if wee proceed to a particular examination of them wee shall finde that amongst all Exod. 21.22.23.24 there is not scarce one that doth purposely speake either of the originall of the soule or the generation of man As for example to take them up in order the first is drawne by consequence from a Law which God made concerning the hurting of a woman with childe for which if it were so that her fruit did depart from her before it was informed with a soule as they would have it then he should have some light punishment onely but if it were informed with a soule thereby perish then he that did it should dye the death And why say they should so small a punishmeÌ„t be inflicted for the one but because it was void of a reasonable soule before so great a punishment for the other but because the soule was present and so a man being slaine the slayer must give life for life But first of all Answer this is to corrupt the Text for the words truely translated be these If men strive and hurt a woman with childe so that her fruit depart from her and yet no mischiefe follow or as some reade it death follow not Geneva Bible for so it is in the Originall he shall he surely punished according as the womans husband will lay upon him c. and if any mischiefe or death followeth then thou shalt give life for life c. This being the true Text in the Originall from which wee ought not to swerve it maketh nothing to their purpose Indeed the Septuagint seemeth to reade it thus Et non fuit efformatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is and it hath not been informed or enlived with a living soule And thus that the fruit may depart without a soul they make the text depart from the true sence Secondly if this should be granted this informing must be understood of quickning else no judgement could be given seeing none can know when the soule is infused if that should be the meaning seeing they say the rationall soule comes after vegetation and sense it must be needs that the childe can move before it hath a rationall soule and so it shall still be uncertaine when a man shall deserve death by such a mischance unlesse we could set downe the just time when God did infuse the soule or feele when it is infused But touching the quickning there is more reason a man should dye for it after then before though the soule be the same from the beginning both because it is not so certaine before what it is or whether it be any thing or no and also before it be come to that perfection any light matter might occasion a mischance for which there were no reason a man should loose his life Lastly 3. this is to be understood of the mother as well as of the childe It her fruit depart from her and yet death follow not neither to her selfe nor to it a light punishment may serve but if either dye he must render life for life But it is manifest then there must be life else there could be no death and life there cannot be in a reasonable creature without a reasonable soule this therefore maketh nothing at all for them 1 but yet something against them The next is taken from the prayer of Moses Let the Lord 2. Num. 27.16 the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man over the congregation which may goe in and out before them and when God was about to take away Moses he like a faithfull Steward having a care that the people might be well governed after his departure and knowing how weak mans judgement is and how apt to erre in choosing of Officers entreats God by that Epethite that he would choose for them As if he should say thou oh father from whom commeth every good gift thou that givest spirit and wisdome to all men thou that searchest the heart and tryest the reines doe thou set a man over the congregation that may be fit to goe in out before thy people c. And that this is the sense plainly appeareth by Gods answer 1. Vers 18. Take yce Joshua a man in whom is the spirit c. 2. Besides if it were meant simply of the soule for which there is no shew of reason yet will it not follow that because he is the God of them therefore he daily creates them of nothing Next followeth that of the Psalmist 3. Psal 33.15 He fashioneth their hearts or soules alik He considereth all thâ—ir works Pro. 22.1.2 which is in effect this The hearts of all men even of Kings are in the hands of the Lord and he turneth them whethersoever he will he orders both the thoughts and actions of men according to his owne good pleasure as is plaine from the words both before and after and so is nothing to the purpose and if it should be meant of the originall of the soule whereof there was no occasion to speake in this place yet the questioÌ„ still remaines whether God formes them mediatly or immediately by creation or propagation But that which is esteemed of more weight is that of Salomon 4. Eccl. 12.7 where resolving the parts of man at his death into the first principles he saith Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne to God that gave it But though this may prove the immortalitie of the soule 1. yet the immediate creation cannot be proved by it but rather the contrary 2. For it is manifest that he hath relation to mans first creation and that necessarily in the one else it should not be true For every mans body is not now made of the dust 3. but onely Adams from whom we came and therefore if wee will make a true Antithesis it will follow that neither is every mans soule created of nothing but onely Adams from whom all others come So that this is rather Salomons meaning as the body returnes to dust
body it must also decrease and dye with it For answer whereunto I would first of all demand of them who hold that it comes by immediate creation how the soule of an infant newly quickened in the mothers wombe can be as perfect as when it is a perfect man Surely there is not so much difference at least in tho soules appearance betweene conception and quickening as is betweene quickning and manhood when therefore they answer the one I may happily thereby also answer the other But not to stay so long in the second place I answer that all soules as well the soules of beasts as of men are essentially as perfect in the first instant of conception as ever afterward yea even the soule of a plant when it is in the seed for though not being of such a fiery nature as living creatures and wanting meanes to exercise its power it may lye a while yea many years as dead as Mustard-seed will doe yet the vegetative soule in the effence thereof Reasons proving the soules perfection in the first conceptiō is as perfect as the most perfect plant as plainly appeareth so soone as the meanes of growing is administred to it 1. Now if the soules of other creatures which as they are soules doe neither increase nor decrease no more than the soule of a man doth may be perfect when they shew no perfection no nor action at all why should we thinke mans soule imperfect because it doth not manifest the perfections at all times alike 2. And if this be a good argument against the propagation of the soule because it should then seeme to be imperfect at the first and so to grow up with the body why should not that be as good against the immortalitie of the soule that it seemes also to dye and decay with the body 3. yea why should it not be much stronger seeing it may better stand with the nature of immortalitie to increase grow better than to decrease and wax worse But to put all out of doubt 4. seeing all confesse that the soule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime act or first mover and essentiall forme of the creature it must needs be perfect at the first and alwayes the same For reason teacheth that that which is first and gives perfection to all the rest cannot have another before it to give perfection to that for so there should be a first before the first and a soule of the soule And seeing the soule is the essentiall forme it must needs be unchangeable also for it is impossible the forme should be altered so long as the creature continues the same what creature soever it be So that this never change but at death nor then neither in men because it is begotten of immortall seede and not brought forth without the immediate hand of GOD. It skilleth not therfore whether the soule can see heare or reason when it is in the seede it sufficeth that it hath that spirituall and divine nature which when the organs are perfected is able to doe it Herein it is with the soule as with the body the child newly conceived hath not the fashion of an humane body yet is there all that is essentiall to the nature of it as will in time appeare so is there all that is essentiall to the soule in conception but the bodily parts requiring time hath it imperfectly the soule being spirituall and above time hath it perfectly in the first instant yet in this case the soule must stay for the expression of it selfe till the body be perfected and then all those seeming new-come perfections are to the soules as cloths to the body onely accidentall ornaments and externall habits which doe not alter it indeed but onely in shew 3. Of conception of Twinnes Lastly concerning the question of superfetation whether twins be conceived at once or at divers times we need not much to dispute For whether it be either or both wayes it makes no matter for if nature hath power to worke so diversly for producing of bodies there is no question but that both God and nature is able to indue them with soules accordingly And it is sufficient for the point in hand that howsoever the manner of generation be there is at least of the soule whereof we dispute but one conception of one and that at once which once is in propagation For though among other creatures the receiving of the seede once sometimes produceth many and often many times but one yet we need not grant it so in humane propagation and yet if we should in regard of the former we need not doubt as I said but God is as powerfull to produce soules as nature is to bring forth bodies and for the other we must needs thinke either that the former is a propagation to the latter or else the latter a perfecting of the former otherwise there would be divers bodyes too any or all of which rightly understood may well stand with this manner of the soules propagation yet in all probability there is but one for one with us howsoever there are many for one and one for many in some other creatures Further then this I thinke no modest or reasonable man will or need inquire but rather conclude this point as the Psalmist begins it Psal 139.14 I will praise the Lord for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marveilous are thy workes and that my soule knoweth right well Conclusion of all the objections Thus we have seene I hope sufficient reason that it is not against reason that God should produce one soule out of the spirituall matter of another by the helpe of bodily organs And if it were against reason yet reason teacheth that we should rather teach it than that which is against Religion which we are now to prove for having thus explained my assertion cleered the way by answering all the materiall objections that I can meet with whether from divine or naturall reason against it whence it is manifest that it may be so I will now proceed to prove that it is so CHAP. XIII Testimonies out of the old Testament proving the soules propagation The methode observed in proving the soules propagation AS the former arguments to disprove this mediate manner of the soules propagation were of two sorts Scripture and naturall reasons so also shall the arguments to prove the same be For seeing God hath a two-fold voyce the one speaking in the Booke of the Scriptures and the other in the Booke of the Creatures when the divine Oracles of the former cannot be heard we must give eare to naturall reasons drawne out of the latter the voyce of natures agreeing with the Scriptures being indeed the voyce of God The proofes from the Scripture shall be of two sorts likewise either direct testimonies or reasons drawne from them And againe the testimonies shal be first from the old and then from the new
reines 2. Psal 139.13.15.16 thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in a secret place and curiously wrought as in the lowest parts of the earth thine eyes did see my masse or whole substance yet being imperfect and in thy booke all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them To omit the omission although it is very unlikely that Job and David here describing so precisely the manner of mans conception breeding bringing forth into the world wherein Gods power wisdome 〈◊〉 1. â—â— and goodnesse is most of all to be magnified should pretermit that wonderfull worke of the creation c infusion of the soule if it had beene knowne and beleeved in their dayes this onely I would know how if the soule be immediately created by God they could so pereÌ„ptorily without any exception or limitation affirme that the whole man was formed in the wombe powred out as milke curdled like cheese c. which that they both joyntly affirme will plainly appeare if we coÌ„sider these three things Man or me secret place and masse or substance For the first it is manifest they doe not herein speake of their owne persons onely as being a matter proper to them alone but in this they ranke themselves with all mankinde so as man here signifies all mankinde male and female as Moses uses the word soule and body Gen. 1.27 5.1.2 and one as well as the other When therefore they both expresly affirme that man is conceived in the wombe it followeth that all men and womens soules have heir originall together with their bodyes As for the terme secret place it signifieth the wombe of the mother where the childe is conceived which is expresly named where he saith thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe therefore when David saith he was woÌ„derfully formed in a secret place he intimateth that the conception of the whole man is made in the wombe Lastly the word masse or substance which he addeth afterwards makes it yet more manifest for it signifieth all whatsoever is in man which is also proved by the words that follow after for he saith that this whole masse or substance of man which is formed in the wombe was described in the booke of Gods providence and who dare deny but soule as well as the body was from all eternitie knowne unto the providence of God for it is not meant of the members of the body only but according to the true meaning of the words in the originally all things whatsoever in man is brought forth in continuance of time which before was not So that from these Scriptures I conclude thus If whole man with his whole masse or substance be conceived in the wombe of his mother then his rationall soule together with his body is propagated out of or by vertue of the seede But whole man together with his whole masse or substance is conceived in the wombe of his mother therefore the rationall soule together with the body is brought forth by vertue and power of the seede 9. Davids confession Ninthty Like unto these also is that other speech of the Prophet David where he confesseth that not his body onely but he himselfe both soule and body was conceived in sin So are his words Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sin did my mother conceive me Whence it appeareth not onely that the whole man is conceived in the wombe but that he is bred and borne in sin yea corrupt and sinfull even from the very first conception which as wee shall afterward see could not possibly be if the soule were immediately created by God And least we should not take knowledge of this or knowing if think it more strange than true he setteth before it this speciall note of observation Behold as being a matter worthy to be knowne and beleeved of all men Jeremies approbation Tenthly The Prophet Jeremy likewise or rather the Lord by the Prophet speaketh thus Before I formed thee in the wombe I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the wombe I sanctified thee Whence also it appeareth not onely that the whole man the soule as well as the body is formed in the wombe but also that the soule is present and in some sanctified by grace as all are corrupt by nature even from the beginning for so it may well be understood that Jeremy was sanctified Luk. 1.15.41 as John Baptist also was with the gifts of the holy Ghost even from his mothers wombe yea before he was borne even from the time of his first forming in the wombe And seeing such sanctification and speciall knowledge of God cannot be ascribed to a body without a soule it will follow that as all are sinfull and some in part sanctified even from the very conception neither of which can be without a soule so all doe receive both soule and body together at the very first conception 11. Salomons resolution Eleventhly Hereunto may be added that of Salomon which was before alledged to prove the contrary where he saith Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was Eccl. 12.7 and the spirit shall return to God that gave it That is at death the body returns to the earth whereof it was first made when God formed man of the dust of the ground and the soule returnes to God who first breathed into Adams nostrils the breath of lives Now if Salomons meaning be that looke as the body ariseth from the earth so the soule comes from God whence some would inferre the immediate creation of the soule it holds much more strongly that the soule is not immediately given of God but mediately by the meanes of nature seeing we have not our bodies neither immediatly from the earth but mediately by propagatioÌ„ from Adam from whom both soule and body is communicated to posterity and both by the gift of God To conclude therefore as our bodyes come from the dust so doe our soules from God but our bodyes come by propagation from Adam and therefore by this argument so doe our soules soules also 12. Zacharies testimony Zach. 12.1 Lastly That of the Prophet Zachary before objected to the contrary serves also notably for the confirmation of this mediate manner of the soules propagation his words be these The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him Now to forme in the Scripture never signifieth to create of nothing as God did in the beginning but to frame of some matter pre-existing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1.1.2.7 as when the Lord formed Adams body of the dust of the ground For though indeed creating be sometimes put for forming yet forming is never put for creating of nothing Seeing therefore the Lord formeth the soules of men of some matter it must be either
person of our Lord Jesus Christ and that in the same moment that it was being by that union enriched w th supernaturall gifts and exalted above all men and Angels And thus also was his substance sinlesse although it was the substance of the sinfull Virgin And to conclude Ioh. 1.29 1 Pet. 1.19 thus is he the immaculate Lambe that taketh away the sinnes of the world 2. Why his conception was extraordinary Now all this was effected by the immediate working of the holy Ghost at the instant of his conception For it neither might nor could be performed after the manner of mans sinfull propagation 1. It could not be by man Because if man had ministred the matter of his humanitie after the ordinary way it should have been sinfull in part that is as man gave it to be a part of Christs person or indeavoured the subsistence of that nature in the person of the Son which nature alone would have made a person and consequently a sinner For by the law of nature in ordinary generation so much as man begets another person he begets another sinner which yet if the soule were immediatly created were so little as there could be no originall sin as we heard before So that by propagation the humanity of Christ which is the whol person so farre as man could in this cause have effected should have beene sinfull And though not meerely as humanitie yet as a nature sinfully propagated from man wherewith it was impossible the divine nature should be united Seeing therefore it could not be by man and the Virgin neither might nor could conceive alone for corruption must have no hand in it it was necessary therefore that it should be done by the supernaturall power of God And seeing it must be done extraordinarily by the immediate power of God no person was so fit for it as the holy Ghost whose office it properly concerns from the Father and the Son to consecrate and set apart for holy uses and especially to indue mens soules with supernaturall gifts therfore most of all in the incarnation of our Saviour Christ which was absolutely the most holy of all GODS externall workes And this as I am undoubtedly perswaded is the true doctrine of the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Phil. 2.6 7 Heb. 4.15 2-6 who was like unto us in all things sin onely excepted made of the same substance both for soule and body and therefore true man and yet not sinfull He was in Adam in respect of his humanitie as well as we and yet sinned not in him as we did In the consideratiō of all which we may well say with the Apostle Without controversie 1 Tim. 2.16 great is the mystery of godlinesse Why this truth hath beene so long obscured Thus I hope I have sufficiently manifested both by Scripture and reasons drawne from them that soules are not immediately created of God of nothing but all mediately propagated from Adam yea Christs as well as ours though his after an extraordinary manner because he was an extraordinary man From all which it plainly appeareth that the holy Ghost hath not left us to wander in uncertainties concerning the soules originall but clearely enough revealed it had not men set up two false opinions one of which they thought must needs be true and neither having sure footing in the Scripture because both false the truth hath beene long obscured and both accounted doubtfull and almost curious because difficult to be knowne CHAP. XXV Naturall reasons proving the soules propagation The nature and validitie of naturall reasons HItherto wee have proved the soules propagation by testimonies and reasons drawne out of the Scripture and now wee are to proceed to naturall reasons which in worth and authoritie are to be regarded next the former they being the word of God wrought as the other is his written word the one we call the voice of nature the other the word of grace the one mediatly manifested in the creatures the other immediately revealed by himselfe For if nature be as is no lesse commonly than truly said ordinaria dei potentia the ordinary power of God as miraculous workes are his extraordinary power then by like reason it followeth that the voice of nature is the ordinary voice of God even as the divine Oracles are his extraordinary voice Now as this question chiefly concerneth nature so the resolution thereof ought chiefly to be fetched from nature whose sentence is therefore so much the more to be respected yea so much that though the Scripture said nothing yet natures testimony were in this of sufficient credit alone And if we will hearken to nature I doubt not to make it appeare that there is nothing more manifest in nature than this mediate manner of the souls propagation and when as well nature as divinite concludes for it I see not with what reason it can be gainsaid 1. Reason from the nature of reason The first naturall reason which I will produce shall be from the nature of reason it selfe which teacheth not to beleeve any thing for which wee have no reason Scripture nor experience Some things our senses teach us to beleeve as the vertues of the Loadstone for which we can render neither Scripture nor reason but only experience Some things reason teacheth us It hath neither Scripture sense nor reason 1. as that the whole conteines the parts which we would beleeve without Scriptures or experience onely by reason And some things wee receive from Scripture as the Trinitie in the Unitie which cannot appeare either by sense or reason but onely by faith 2. But none of these can manifest the soules immediate creation for it is confessed to be above sense or reason neither is there any Scripture to prove it For who ever heard of a soule newly created since the first in the beginning is it likely that God should continually do such wonderfull workes which the Scripture never spake of and whereof there can no example be given yea is it not contrary to all sense and reason that God should worke a perpetuall miracle and that the most omnipotent worke that can be and yet this onely among all the workes of God should be omitted in the Scripture If there were such a thing as this wee should neede none other Arguments to confute all the Atheists and Epicures in the world this therfore of all other should have beene revealed if it had beene so 2. From the order of nature Seeing therefore there is no divine testimony to warrant it there had need be strong reasons to make a man beleeve it Neither is it unreasonable onely but as it seemeth to me a most unnaturall opinion cleane contrary to the whole order of nature and end of all GODS extraordinary workes For although the supreame goodnesse of GOD would not content it selfe without producing more good for which cause he created the world
thus I have finished my taske in proving this manner of the soules propagation both by divine and naturall reason CHAP. XXIX An answer to some objections against this manner of propagation BUt now me-thinkes I heare some call me backe saying I contradict my selfe in that I say and that even this meane way hath its extremities Having therefore shewed that the soule of man can neither be immediately created by God not yet meerely propagated by man and proved this middle way betweene both both by Scripture and naturall reasons I will now in the last place that there may remaine no just scruple to cavill at briefly answer some few Objections which I conceive may be made more directly even against this meane manner of the soules procreation and so conclude The Objections are these foure Objections First That the soule shall not be immortall if it may be resolved into a former principle namely Adams soule from whence all came Secondly God shall hereby still worke immediately in the creation of soules and so shall not yet have ended his worke and rest from his labours Thirdly Man shall still be inferior to beasts in that he cannot beget his like alone but must have more helpe from God than they Lastly God shall still be touched with sin in being the immediate efficient of our sinfull soules All which may be as easily answered as objected 1 Obj. That the soule must be mortall if it proceed from another For the first first although it is true that all mixt bodyes may be againe resolved into their former principles the elements whereof they are compounded and out of which they arise yet this is no impeachment to the soules immortalitie For the comparison is unequall and the causes nothing like unlesse wee should say that all bodyes must returne into Adams also whence they came as well as soules Secondly Mixt bodyes are not the simple elements but compounded of them where as our soules are of the same nature and no lesse simple than his was Thirdly If it were compounded yea even of the elements yet it would not presently follow that it must needs be mortall because corruption and death comes not onely nor so much from propagation or composition as from divine malediction for death is the wages of sinne without which even Adams body should have beene immortall as well as his soule Lastly To this objection I will oppose an infallible conclusion viz. that nothing can returne to nothing but by the same meanes whereby it receives the first being And hence it is that all creatures that are produced out of the elements by the power of nature doe by nature resolve into them againe but because mens soules cannot be propagated from their parents but by the immediate power of GOD concurring hence it necessarily followeth that neither can they be againe dissolved or annihilated but by the same omnipotent power This therefore doth invincibly prove so farre is it from disproving proving the soules immortalitie 2 Obj. That God still works in creating Soules For the second that God shall not yet rest from his labour but be still set aworke in the creation of soules I answer first here is no creation of any new kind of creature which they of the contrary part would have us to take for a sufficient answer Secondly Which is more here is no new substance created of nothing but onely produced out of former matter Thirdly It nothing oppugnes Gods resting to worke immediately in some things as by his holy Spirit in the hearts of Gods Elect Ioh. 5.17 in such things the Father worketh hitherto and the Sonne likewise Lastly This worke is no part of creation properly but of preservation which is ordinarily either mediate or immediate Mediate so all elementary creatures and individuall natures are preserved by God but by the meanes of nature or rather naturall meanes but now nature it selfe or as I may say the very nature or Symmetry of nature is preserved by his owne immediate power there being no nature above nature but onely his to preserve it And by the same immediate power it must needs be that the production of soule is conserved the excellency of whose nature is such as can have no naturall or mediate efficient cause and therefore of necessitie it must be his immediate providence onely and that even by course of nature 3 Obj. That ma◠shall still be inferiour to other creatures To the third objection that if mans generatiō requires more helpe from God than other creatures his nature shall therein be still inferiour to theirs I answer That no creature can propagate the like alone no more than he and that he doth as much in the generation of his like as any other creatures doe in theirs For it is well knowne that in generation besides the matter and forme which proceeds from the generators it is necessary that there should bee an efficient power comming from an externall cause which all grant to be the influence of the celestiall Orbes whence is that common Proverb amongst Philosophers Sol homo generant hominem now seeing man gives the matter and forme of the whole man soule and body though in regard of his soule he hath a more excellent efficient than they or rather the same efficient after a more excellent manner that is immediately this is so farre from disparaging that it exalteth mans nature above all other creatures in the world Neverthelesse if man did not give both matter and forme this were indeed justly objected and he should be herein according to the order of nature inferiour to all others as we heard before 4. Obj. That God shall still be touched with sin Lastly The last objection that God shall be touched with sinne in being the immediate efficient of our sinfull soules is easily answered for God is simply the efficient cause of the soule and not of sin but that comes from our corrupt parents who supply the matter of the whole man corrupt and sinfull like themselves It being Gods just ordinance in nature Rom. 11.16 that as the tree is so should the fruit be And thus sin is meerly accidentall in respect of God who as he made man at the first perfect so also this ordinance of generation whereby he should have begotten children perfect like himselfe but he by his fall corrupting himselfe hath likewise corrupted all his posteritie albeit God still performes his part as perfectly as ever in conferring of his efficient power for the producing of them Thus then we see how the generation of men which should have been perfect is become sinfull through out faults and not Gods and why then God did not make man new againe or stop sin there but continue his first institution might be sufficiently cleared but is not in this place to be disputed CHAP. XXX The Conclusion recapitulating the summe of the premisses Use of this Tractate IT is now time to